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Oscar project- The Life of Emile Zola
Jan. 6th, 2006 01:23 pm The Life of Emile Zola was the best picture winner in 1937. Starring Paul Muni as the title character, it's a strange little biopic. The first part of the movie is entertaining. Zola and his friend the painter Cezanne live in a drafty apartment in Paris in the 1890s. They are both poor and idealistic. Then Zola writes hit after hit and eventually becomes a wealthy gentlemen. Cezanne goes to visit him and is appalled at how his friend has become a self absorbed member of the very social class that he has been protesting in his writing.
Zola begins to realize that he is a betrayal to himself as well. At this time, Lucie Dreyfuss, the wife of Captain Dreyfuss who was wrongly convicted in the Dreyfuss affair, comes to convince Zola that her husband is innocent. This part is still interesting. Zola then takes up the cause, and this is where the movie gets a little dull. From there on, the viewer is forced to watch a lot of speechifying and courtroom scenes.
I enjoyed the historical elements in this film and may pick up a book by Zola one day. It's not a bad film, but not one that I feel I ever have to watch again.
My favourite line in the film is- "We all have to defend our country. Some prefer the sword, I use the pen." (Not an exact quote, but something similar)
***
In related Oscar news, B* bought me Inside Oscar Volumes 1 and 2 for Christmas. These fat books are full of Hollywood gossip and weird bits of Oscar trivia. For example in 1937, Spencer Tracy was assigned to play a Portuguese fisherman in "Captain Courageous". He didn't like the accent he had to use, or the hairdo he was assigned for the film, especially after Joan Crawford ran into him on the Metro Lot and yelled, "Oh my god, it's Harpo Marx!"
***
From Volume 1, I learned that Paul Muni played one of the Chinese people in "The Good Earth" the year before he was "Emile Zola." His first major role was playing Louis Pasteur in a bio-pic. I'm not sure how one would make an interesting movie about pasteurization, but what do I know?
Zola begins to realize that he is a betrayal to himself as well. At this time, Lucie Dreyfuss, the wife of Captain Dreyfuss who was wrongly convicted in the Dreyfuss affair, comes to convince Zola that her husband is innocent. This part is still interesting. Zola then takes up the cause, and this is where the movie gets a little dull. From there on, the viewer is forced to watch a lot of speechifying and courtroom scenes.
I enjoyed the historical elements in this film and may pick up a book by Zola one day. It's not a bad film, but not one that I feel I ever have to watch again.
My favourite line in the film is- "We all have to defend our country. Some prefer the sword, I use the pen." (Not an exact quote, but something similar)
***
In related Oscar news, B* bought me Inside Oscar Volumes 1 and 2 for Christmas. These fat books are full of Hollywood gossip and weird bits of Oscar trivia. For example in 1937, Spencer Tracy was assigned to play a Portuguese fisherman in "Captain Courageous". He didn't like the accent he had to use, or the hairdo he was assigned for the film, especially after Joan Crawford ran into him on the Metro Lot and yelled, "Oh my god, it's Harpo Marx!"
***
From Volume 1, I learned that Paul Muni played one of the Chinese people in "The Good Earth" the year before he was "Emile Zola." His first major role was playing Louis Pasteur in a bio-pic. I'm not sure how one would make an interesting movie about pasteurization, but what do I know?
